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El Defensor Chieftain
www.dchieftain.com
Vol. 149 • No. 2
COMMUNITY
notes
Tech Community
Education classes
New
Mexico
Tech’s
Community Education classes
begin Monday, Jan. 12, Register
now at the Registrar’s Office,
Fidel Center, Room 285. Visit
www.nmt.edu/ced-home for a
list of all courses offered.
Astronomy talk
at Mag Library
The Magdalena Public
Library will host a program
called “A Comet Over Magdalena
on Wednesday, Jan. 14, by local
astronomer John Briggs, whose
discussion will focus on how
to see a new comet currently in
the winter sky, Comet Lovejoy.
Other comets will also be discussed. The free presentation
for the whole family will be
6 to 7:30 p.m. and will also
serve as the inaugural meeting
of the newly formed Magdalena
Astronomical Society.
Bullock Avenue
sidewalk closure
© 2014, El Defensor Chieftain
SOCOR RO, NEW MEX ICO • JA NUARY 8, 2015
2015 comes
storming in
Snowstorm causes
accidents, people
seek shelter
By Eric Heinz
El Defensor Chieftain staff writer
eheinz@dchieftain.com
People stranded by snowfall, slick
road conditions and freezing temperatures were all pieces of a whiteout that
lasted from last Wednesday through
Saturday morning in Socorro County.
Jerry Wheeler, Socorro County
Emergency Management Office coordinator, said there’s usually an annual
winter event, but it always depends on
certain circumstances. The El Niño that
has been brewing since summer last year
brings that added moisture.
The ongoing construction of
New Mexico Tech’s new Bureau
of Geology building will necessitate the closure of the sidewalk
along Bullock Avenue during
working hours periodically. This
project is scheduled to be completed in late winter/early spring
2015.
“Normally what happens is the motels
fill up first, and then we can open up the
shelter when there’s no more in the community,” Wheeler said. “I think our big
arctic blast was in February 2011, but it’s
really hard to tell. We always try to stay
prepared for these kinds of events.”
Notices were sent out from the operating emergency center (OEC) to inform
people to not travel and reduce driving
speeds to 35 miles per hour, Wheeler
said.
“When the road gets bad, they
shut down the Interstate, but as long
as they keep the roads passable, it’s
open,” Wheeler said. “With the sand
and everything it keeps it passable. That
doesn’t mean it’s like when it’s dry, but
people continue to drive like it’s dry.
Unfortunately, that’s when those accidents happen.”
During the evening of Jan. 2, the city
of Socorro reported there was a stranded
family and that the family needed some
place to stay.
By midnight Cindy Rivera, supervisor of the youth programs at the Socorro
Youth Center, said 18 people utilized the
center for shelter. Rivera said the families and individuals were able to leave
Saturday morning. The family stranded
50 cents
John Larson — El Defensor Chieftain
Above, snow and ice on Main Street in Magdalena made for difficult driving
Saturday morning. Below, Anthony Silva, 14, front, and Joshua Silva, 14, hit a
snow ramp together on a sled Saturday on the New Mexico Tech campus. Below
left, a little girl watches sledders. Bottom left, a snowman welcomes people on
the corner of Mount Caramel Avenue and School of Mines Road. Areas in the
county received up to half a foot of snow between Dec. 31 and Jan. 3.
just north of the city of Socorro had
seven children in their group.
Wheeler said state police and New
Mexico Department of Transportation
(NMDOT) had sanded and dispersed
cinders (snow-melting material) on the
asphalt of Interstate 25. But there were
numerous accidents throughout the
weekend, although there were not too
many that caused injuries.
Socorro County Sheriff’s Office
and New Mexico Motor Transportation
Division reported they responded to 11
crashes with injuries, 35 crashes without
injuries and 32 motorist assists between
Jan. 1 to 3 on I-25 and Highway 60
between Socorro and Magdalena.
“There were a lot of incidents that
happened over the weekend,” Socorro
County Sheriff William Armijo said.
n See STORM, Page 3
Live music
this week
• Friday, Jan. 9 - open mic at
Sofia’s Kitchen, 6 to 9 p.m.
• Friday, Jan. 9 - Jex Exten at
the Bodega, 6:30 to 9 p.m.
• Saturday, Jan. 10 - Roon at
Twisted Chile, 7 to 10 p.m.
• Saturday, Jan. 10 - Mariachi
Saturday with Romano Enrique
at Sofia’s Kitchen, 6 to 9 p.m.
• Sunday, Jan. 11 - Doug and
Mariam at Sofia’s Kitchen, 11
a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, Jan. 14 - open
mic at Twisted Chile, 6:30 to 9
p.m.
Eric Heinz — El Defensor Chieftain
AAUW talk at
Socorro Library
The American Association of
University of Women will host
presentation by Robyn Harrison
and Tom Hyden 7 p.m. Jan. 21 in
the Alice Kase Reading Room
at Socorro Public Library. Last
spring, Harrison and Hyden took
the ancient pilgrimage from Le
Puy, France, to Santiago, Spain.
The route is known as the Route
of St. James or the Compostela
Trail. The two will narrate their
walk. Everyone is welcome.
Refreshments will be served.
Bountiful Baskets
in Mag, Socorro
Socorro County residents
interested in buying affordable
farm-fresh fruit and vegetables delivered to Magdalena or
Socorro should register at www.
bountifulbaskets.org, a not-forprofit food coop. For more information, call Cynthia at 575-5188043 or Nadine at 835-8656.
SUBSCRIBE TO
EL DEFENSOR CHIEFTAIN
CALL 575-835-0520
www.dchieftain.com
Eric Heinz — El Defensor Chieftain
Eric Heinz — El Defensor Chieftain
SCSD partners with Tech Jury finds
Soto not guilty
for Distance Education
By Eric Heinz
El Defensor Chieftain staff writer
eheinz@dchieftain.com
Twenty-first century technology is planned to
be infused with education in Socorro Consolidated
Schools District from a top-rated college program.
Distance Education courses, classes that are
taught remotely via the Internet by webcam, allow
professors to instruct students from anywhere. This
has been used at New Mexico Tech for some time
now, but at the high school level it just materialized
last fall.
District Assistant Superintendent Anton Salome
said Socorro is the first high school Tech will work
with but more schools throughout New Mexico may
be able to use the program in the future.
“It entails a classroom at Socorro High School
that’s equipped to receive video and send video
to the New Mexico Tech Distance Education program,” Salome said. “We’ve had our math teachers
at the high school recommend students who they
feel would be successful in participating in the precalculus, Math 103, class at Tech.”
Salome said the district tapped into some federal
or state funding at the higher-education level that
supported the program.
Salome also said the program is intended to
increase students’ confidence in high-level math
courses.
“We had some conversations with Pat Lopez at
Tech, and he is the project director. We’ve also had
some discussions with Annette LaRussa, a math
professor at Tech. So our math teachers were very
interested.” Salome said. “A couple of our teachers
are graduates from Tech and are really interested in
getting our kids foot in the door in providing them
“We’re looking to provide
an opportunity to our
students throughout the
state to tap into that
rigorous math work. It’s
kind of like a pilot.”
of sexual abuse
By Eric Heinz
El Defensor Chieftain staff writer
eheinz@dchieftain.com
with a high-level math course.”
LaRussa has a Ph.D. in mathematics from the
University of Alabama Birmingham and a Ph.D. in
science education from the University of Georgia,
according to the Tech faculty roster.
In addition to pre-calculus, the program will offer
other mathematic disciplines such as algebra and
foundational math in more advanced realms.
Professors are seen through a live feed in a classroom, and students are able to see the professor and
their lesson on computer screens. The idea is to give
more high school students in rural areas access to
college-level courses before they graduate.
Salome said students were chosen based on
maturity and motivation by their professors through
a selection process to determine if they can handle
Ed Soto, 46, was found not guilty in a trial by jury
in Socorro District Court Tuesday on three counts of
criminal sexual contact on a minor under the age of 13.
The alleged victim was his daughter, now 11 years
old, who took the stand Monday to testify for the State
of New Mexico against Soto.
Charges stemmed from claims that incidents of Soto
having sexual contact with his daughter when she was
between the ages of 4 and 6 in summer and fall of 2008
and again somewhere between Jan. 1 to July 1, 2010, as
was said by witnesses during the trial.
The alleged victim is a minor and is not being identified in this article.
Soto was charged with three counts of child sexual
contact by the end of the trial. Originally, he was charged
with one count of criminal sexual penetration of a minor
under the age of 13 and four counts of child sexual contact of a minor under the age of 13, but one charge was
dismissed and the other was reduced by the state because
of a lack of evidence vicarious of testimony.
If Soto had been convicted, he would have faced up
to 15 years in prison for each count, and if Judge Matt
Reynolds imposed the maximum sentence it would have
run for 45 years with fines amounting to $38,000.
What made this case particularly difficult to piece
together was the lack of physical evidence available for
both the prosecution and the defense. Both attorneys
used the fact there was no DNA evidence, no eyewit-
n See EDUCATION, Page 5
n See JURY, Page 2
Assistant Superintendent Anton Salome